BOX SCORE Richmond, Va. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team (0-1) opened its 2019-20 season with a 72-58 loss at No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd.

Redshirt senior Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) led the Red Flash with 15 points and five rebounds, senior Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea) added 11 points and six boards and sophomore Myles Thompson (Camden, N.J./Camden) chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Krimmel's Reaction

"I learned that we have a pretty resilient group," said head coach Rob Krimmel. "Our offensive execution wasn't where it needed to be early but we kept chipping away at it and had it down to 10 points at the under-8 media timeout. From there it is anybody's game but we dug ourselves a little bit too big of a hole with our poor start."

Turning Point

Saint Francis struggled offensively in the first half, shooting 8-33 (24.2%) from the field and 1-10 (10.0%) from three-point range to trail 36-22 at the half. The Red Flash were much sharper in its execution over the final 20 minutes, going 13-32 (40.6%) from the field and 5-11 (45.5%) from behind the arc. Saint Francis cut the second-half deficit to 10 on two occasions, the first on a Blackmon layup with 8:08 to play and the second on a Thompson field goal  with 7:22 left to make it 55-45. Unfortunately, VCU responded on both ensuing possessions and SFU wasn't able to cut it to single digits.

Inside the Box Score

• VCU shot 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the floor while SFU was 21-of-65 (32.3%).
• The Rams went 3-for-13 (23.1%) from three while SFU finished 6-for-21 (28.6%) behind the arc.
• Saint Francis converted 10-of-18 free throws (55.6%) to 15-of-25 (60.0%) for VCU.
• VCU outrebounded Saint Francis 42-39 but Saint Francis finished with 15 offensive rebounds.
• Turnovers slightly favored VCU, 19-18.
• The Rams, behind 21 points and 18 rebounds from Marcus Santos-Silva, outscored SFU 42-22 in the paint.
• Bench points were even at 16-16.

Notes

• Junior Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, N.J./South Kent) made his first career start and responded with a career-high six points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Redshirt sophomore transfer Tyler Stewart (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) from Binghamton finished with seven points, four rebounds and three steals in his Red Flash debut.
• Braxton and Blackmon recorded the 81st and 56th career double digit scoring efforts of their careers.
• Saint Francis fell to 2-58 all-time vs. opponents ranked in the top 25 in the AP Poll and is still looking for its first win over a ranked team since 1959.
• The Red Flash have lost its last 10 season openers but four of the last five have been to nationally-ranked opponents.
• Saint Francis outscored the Rams 43-40 over the game's final 25 minutes.

Up Next

Saint Francis returns to Richmond to take on the Spiders on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.